[DeadByDawn]

I have 2 sources for my sony ES cd player.
1) My yamaha RXV-2095 receiver (an older 5.1 receiver one step below the DSP-A1 in the late 90s)
2) My headphone jack on the sony ED cd player itself.

The connection to my Yamaha is optical/ toslink.

Just curious which one in therory should be better.

Thanks

 

[infinitesymphony]

There are too many variables. What's the DAC in the Sony player? What's the DAC in the Yamaha receiver? What interconnect are you using to connect them? Does the Yamaha have a better headphone output than the Sony? What headphones are you using?

In any case, I'd wager that the headphone output on the Sony ES CD player sounds better, simply because there are less steps between the transport and the headphones. It's also been my experience that the headphone amplifiers in players are often of better quality than the ones in receivers. There's also a good chance that the Sony has a better DAC.

However, only you can decide which of these possible setups sounds the best:

1. Sony headphone jack.
2. Sony -> Yamaha via analog cables (i.e. Sony's DAC).
3. Sony -> Yamaha via digital cable (i.e. Yamaha's DAC).

 

[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeadByDawn I have 2 sources for my sony ES cd player. 1) My yamaha RXV-2095 receiver (an older 5.1 receiver one step below the DSP-A1 in the late 90s) 2) My headphone jack on the sony ED cd player itself. The connection to my Yamaha is optical/ toslink. Just curious which one in therory should be better. Thanks

Actually the Sony ES series headphone jacks are fairly decent. I'd also wager that it would be your best choice of the two.